Rainer Spangl, The Regard

For The Regard, his third solo exhibition at Devening Projects, Vienna-based artist Rainer Spangl shows new paintings focused on the gaze. In this work, he addresses the canon of traditional portraiture through intimately scaled paintings of faces that are closely cropped to draw

Press Release

For The Regard, his third solo exhibition at Devening Projects, Vienna-based artist Rainer Spangl shows new paintings focused on the gaze. In this work, he addresses the canon of traditional portraiture through intimately scaled paintings of faces that are closely cropped to draw attention to the expression and view point of his subjects. By rendering slight nuances of facial expression and direction of attention, Spangl brings focus to the relationship between the viewer and the viewed. His specific brushwork exposes nuances of the character depicted and leaves hints of the painter’s hand. The specificity of each composition reveals Spangl’s intention to open a field of viewing directed by the gaze.

The gallery is activated as the viewer’s site lines cross with those of the subject’s in the paintings. Points located on and outside of the canvas lead to pathways of intervention and interaction. As the viewer looks at the portrait, the eye points to something beyond; what that is, synchronously manifests multiple linkage points.

(b. 1977 in Vienna) Rainer Spangl lives and works in Vienna, Austria. He completed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. He has had solo exhibitions at Devening Projects in Chicago (2013, 2008) and at Song Song, Vienna (2016, 2012, 2010). His work has been exhibited at Ve.sch in Vienna (2015), Essex Flowers in New York (2014), Mauve in Vienna (2013), as well as Adds Donna in Chicago (2012) and Julius Casear in Chicago (2008). Since 2010 Rainer Spangl co-curates the Artist Lecture Series Vienna.